Not quite a noob, Not quite a Pro, Not quite old man, Not quite boy racer......

Luke,
I followed your fork compression graph when I redid my compression stack last night. I was able to use what I had to incorporate some bleed to the stack, which seems to really have helped. I bled the forks, removed the speed bleeders that kept leaking, and did a quick test around the neighborhood. Initial impressions are great. I rode the bike into one of my concrete steps, and almost didn't feel it. It also feels like I got some much better high speed damping as well. I found it was much easier to do stoppies on the thing.

I'm still hesitating on the rear shock a bit, mostly due to the bleeding I hear being a PITA & the nitrogen. I've heard some folks just use a high pressure bicycle pump (for their air forks\shocks) to find a pressure they like, and then go get it filled with nitrogen. Right now I'll live with the funky rebound of the rear end. I'm really just looking forward to testing the forks out this weekend.

I'll be going out to where our "home" harescramble is (Fox valley Off-Road) and give things a real shakedown. I'll actually put the GoPro on so I can get some pics\video. I feel I got too much chat here, and not enough photo\video.

Andrew

PS - I red loctited the primary nut onto the crank. That shouldn't come off on me while riding anymore.

Nice, glad it's working out for you. If you're looking for something different to what I'm doing, let me know. I can try different things on the shim software so you aren't just following me or guessing.

The shock's pretty easy for a shock. I actually prefer it to doing forks, there's less mess and there's only one of them. I just use air from an MTB shock pump, have never felt the need to change to N2.

Nice, glad it's working out for you. If you're looking for something different to what I'm doing, let me know. I can try different things on the shim software so you aren't just following me or guessing.

The shock's pretty easy for a shock. I actually prefer it to doing forks, there's less mess and there's only one of them. I just use air from an MTB shock pump, have never felt the need to change to N2.

Lookin' forward to some video.

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I'll dig into the shock. I should mention that I've been using the Shim Restackor Pro for awhile now. I woulda had no clue on what I was doing otherwise. My plan was to toy with things a bit this season, and if I couldn't get close to a "better" feeling bike, I'd spring the money for having someone tune it. I guess if anything I'm just avoiding dropping 200$ on a pile of various shims. Really wish there were an industrial supplier for these things.

Now it's unfortunately time to clean the house. Between me working excessive OT and my wife in nursing school and our dogs 2nd summer coat going mad, the house is a wreck. A few Stella's shall make this slightly more enjoyable.

Saturday went pretty well with testing the bike, and getting some good seat time in. We rode from about 10:30am until 3:30pm. Aside from the changes on the bike, I made the decision to try just a roost guard instead of my complete pressure suit. I was quite glad I did, as the temps were hitting the mid 90's. I got so much better air flow over my body and honestly in the woods, didn't feel any less protected. Though I'm sure I'll feel otherwise the next time I crash hard.

The riding area is a combo of a mini MX track, and some very sporadic woods trails. There is absolutely nothing defined in there, and is 2-way traffic. Though it could be called 360 way traffic, as the way the trails intertwine with each other, you could run into someone from any and every possible direction. I shouldn't complain though, as it gives me a good idea of the random trails they may tie in for harescrambles there.

The real downside is that it is next to impossible to ride the same exact course twice. I could try all I wanted, but yeah just not happening. So what I ended up doing was alternating between a few hot laps on the mx track, and then duck into the woods for a bit. I found that doing 5 laps on the mx track was like doing an hour in the woods. I found though as the day\heat grew, that it got to me, which will be addressed with more\better pre-race hydration. I guess I just haven't been drinking enough water, and I felt it.

On the upside of all this, I really like how the bike was feeling. I felt strong and planted on it at all times. I had installed some CR-Hi bars that put me in a much more relaxed position while standing. The grips I installed gave me some blisters on my thumbs, though that could also be a product of my body sweating profusely and the gloves slipping on my hands. I may ditch the pillow-top pro-tapers and go back to the half-waffles that were on the thing stock.

Here's a quick video. I got quite a bit more, but I gotta fish through it for some good footage.

Getting it better than stock is easy. Knowing when to quit messing with it, and knowing if a pro could get it much better is beyond me.

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I've thought more about the suspension in the past couple days. There were a couple times that I took note that the front wheel would literally stay lifted & push. It was especially noted in the rockbed sections. If I was on the gas as I needed to be, the front would feel like I was riding a wheelie through there, so I'd have to back off and slow down. This was probably the biggest offending area. This ties in more than likely with what you found in your fork rebound stack. It's got too much initial damping & then blows through it (if I read correctly).

I'm also wondering how much that ties in with the rear shock low speed compression damping. I am going to do some more exact testing this weekend on our set 3 mile loop. It's far too difficult to do without a proper loop.

The compression on the fork felt great though. So nice to be able to get on the brakes heavy and not totally bottom out the fork purely on braking.

Throughout the process do what your doing now, read! Study everything you can about suspension. KTMtalk.com is a great resource if you haven't been over there yet. So is thumpertalk.com. I don't always like to take advice from people who are selling it but RaceTech's suspension bible will probably teach you more about suspension than any other source besides a tuner himself. Neduro (inmate here) also sells a PDF document that has a good bit of information in it for cheap.

Saturday was spent out at a riding park called Rocky Glen. Was raining in the morning, so it helped keep the quadtards away. Morning warmup laps through the woodsy sections were going well, until I came blasting around a turn just about to click into third, and found 2 riders coming directly at me on a 1-way trail. Did my best to avoid the first guy, but clipped him with my left arm. Got tossed to the dirt and tweaked my radiator.

Could only be so pissed at him, as the track manager is a complete idiot who does little to nothing to maintain the place, or keep trail markers up to par. It is what it is.

I went out a little after noon to ride an hour long stint on our loop we had set, and really got to buckle in. I noticed around lap 10 or so that my front end felt a little funny. I went to lean the bike in to an uphill loose turn, and out goes my front tire. It was a major WTF till I looked over the bike. I had a flat front tire. Explained the heavy feeling front, harsh suspension, and the consequent crash. Go figure that my crash had me planting my already jacked up elbow....directly into a rock.

As soon as I crashed, it absolutely knocked the wind out of me. Sure sign that I need to continue working out harder during the week. I unfortunately had to call it for the day, as my left side of my body was feeling roughed up, and I was in no mood to change a front tire that was coated in a heavy layer of mud.

My side wouldn't have gotten messed up at all had I of been wearing a pressure suit. I opted to try riding only a roost guard to help with airflow and keeping cooler. I'll now be looking to buy a better flowing pressure suit.

Today was spent relaxing at the in-laws pool. It was all relaxing until I jammed my toe up. So now I've got a hacked up arm, and a black n blue to. I got a 2 week break till I will be back on the bike. SHould be all healed up.

The damage:

I'll get some video up from the weekends riding. Wish I had the gopro on while I had the headon crash.

I was so hoping that you went out and kicked ass on that old XR350. In the mud with its smooth power delivery I thought you would roll right by everybody.

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I was planning on the same thing too, but I learned some important things about the tires on the bike. Whatever Pirelli Scorpion is on the front does NOT shed mud like the Michelin S12XC's that I'm used to. I shoulda toyed with tire pressure a bit more, but everything's a learning process. The Kenda trakmaster 2 wasn't the hottest either, but it was what it was. When I had clean tires, the thing really scooted off and did its thing. Very easy & comfortable to ride, that's for sure.

I'm looking forward to continued racing on the WR, but wouldn't mind giving the XR another honest go. Maybe see how it does in a vintage Harescramble.

I have uploaded the 30 minutes I had ridden this past weekend. Disregard me blowing through the 2nd turn. I was busy thinking if I had my lap timer all going properly. It's pretty pathetic how sad the crash looks at the end, but what yah gonna do. One of them ones that just sucks the wind out of you. From this weekend I've learned that I am done wearing just a roost guard, in favor of wearing my compression suit. I will also do better work on my pre-hydrating.

Edit - The ride on the KDX200 is my buddy John who I dragged to that first enduro where I destroyed my radiator. He is finally starting to pick up his speed. So glad I got him off of the YZ125 & YZ250F MX bikes. Surprise Surprise, woods bikes are easier to ride in the woods than MX bikes

It's been a month since I've last updated this. Few things have happened since then. First, I scored a 6 speed gearbox for my Husky. This has transformed the bike from being great, to totally great. The bike is far more useful, and was still pulling over the 85mph mark.

I got to do some more riding in the UP. Did some two-track riding & some singletrack, same as the last time I went up. This time on the singletrack, I rode by myself (with some others taking a slower pace behind me....ready to collect me if I broke me\the bike), and really pushed myself to ride the 26 mile loop as if it were a Harescramble. After riding the loop, I realized I did it in under 1:30, so was quite thrilled with myself.

Later on in the evening, a buddy of mine & I went back to the loop and rode a 1-2 mile section of it back and forth a couple times. Since it was a short section, I really pushed myself and helped find some new limits for how I could push things on the Husky. I could really feel at this point the hurt I'd put on my Michelin S12XC tires, as the rear was really getting beat up (heck it had close to 800 miles on it at this point).

The following day, after getting a rear flat on my Husky, and then another 20 miles from camp, and then riding back to camp on said flat tire, I let the Husky rest & the same buddy & I went back to the singletrack section and got some riding done. I was on The Mighty XR, and he on his xr400r. The 400 had a little more bottom end giddyup, but the 350r was a trooper, holding it's own....even in a drag race. Again at the end of this session, I felt strong on the bike & very positive in my riding, even after the miles we had put on during the 3 prior days.

So now I've got a race coming up Sunday. My bikes got fresh tires on, and ready to roll. I've looked at the average speeds for where I'm racing, and looks like I need to average 18mph to stick with the top percentile. I know I can do it....I'm just sticking to my personal "Keys to the race" (a la Jeff Emig).

1. Don't Crash
2. Have fun.
3. Finish.

It's supposed to be 92 on Sunday, so crashing will be bad if it happens. I'm avoiding it at all costs. I'll pace myself accordingly. My bigger concern at this point is Hydration & pre-race feeding. I'm plenty well hydrated so far, drinking close to a gallon a day in water & am specifically avoiding beer in the evenings. I don't have much, but I'm going to see how it plays into things come Sunday.

I'm more concerned on my pre-race food. This year my wife & I have switched to a Paleo\Primal (low\no grains, low carbs, no sugars, etc etc) diet. I'm not 100% perfect with it, but stick with it pretty well, which has helped me drop a lot of weight. I'm still uncertain on how to properly fuel myself before a race, as I've read a lot of endurance athletes who are on the paleo\primal diets still carb load ahead of time, and take sugary stuff for the immediate boosts. Any suggestions? I'll keep reading what I can, but what are others doing come pre-race & race day.

I would definately eat some carb the night before, and I would substitude some of the pasta with atleast one baked potato for potassium. I would also eat a banana before the race, and even one cliff bar.

I have not read this entire thread so don't know if your race is an enduro or a hare scramble. If it's an enduro, I would definately eat a banana during each fuel stop. And ofcourse hydration goes without saying, but drink often...don't wait untill you're thirsty to drink because for some that already means dehydration.

I would definately eat some carb the night before, and I would substitude some of the pasta with atleast one baked potato for potassium. I would also eat a banana before the race, and even one cliff bar.

I have not read this entire thread so don't know if your race is an enduro or a hare scramble. If it's an enduro, I would definately eat a banana during each fuel stop. And ofcourse hydration goes without saying, but drink often...don't wait untill you're thirsty to drink because for some that already means dehydration.

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Bananas have been on my list of items to eat whenever I race. From what I'm reading on other endurance athletes, who are on the paleo\Primal diets, they seem to stick with their standard meals before events. I'm going to give that a whirl (big salad & steak the night before). I'll cook up a healthy dose of eggs & whatnot for breakfast as well.

Good luck tomorrow Andrew- see you there. I hydrated my ass off last night
But seriously- you think I could run my stock tank on my wr450 or leave the oversize one on?

90 min at 1/4 throttle for me

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Stock tank will be just fine.

I've been quite hydrated this week as well. Been taking in over a gallon of water a day all week. I spoiled myself with one beer last night while starting to watch Game of Thrones.

Went for a leisurely bike ride with the wife this morning. Got my gear all ready to go, so I'm shooting for a positive finish tomorrow.

If you keep your bike at 1/4 throttle the entire race, you'll finish quite well. Average speed in your class is around 15mph, so 2nd gear + 1/4 throttle, and you'll be doing great!

Andrew

PS - I've actually got planned a warm-up strategy for the morning. An hour before my race I'm planning to do some running\jogging and some other stuffs to get the muscles loosened up and whatnot. Then do some loops on their little oval on the side of the pits. Just wish it weren't gonna be 95+ while doing this.

Regarding your Paleo diet, it will take your metabolism a while to become efficient at fat oxidation. If you are not there yet you can still stick with Paleo and do medium-high carbs, just get them from yams, sweet potatoes, fruits, squash etc.

For your next training session you could experiment by adding some easily metabolized fats like medium chain triglycerides (MCT) with your usual food. E.g. make a shake with some coconut water (which also contains electrolytes) and some protein in addition to your glycogen replenishing carbs.